Lecture 1 - Introduction to topics
Comparative Politics - POLS 3311
2024-01-23
What is politics?
What is political science?
- subfields of political science and differences with other social sciencesWhat is the comparative method of political science?
- Overview of course subtopicsThe State
The organized, coercive use of violent force commonly accepted as legitimate
The organized, coercive use of violent force commonly accepted as legitimate
- Do our findings apply to other behavior (the firm, markets, voluntary organizations, churches)?
- Can non-state organizations provide examples to understand the state?
- What about the interaction between the state and non-state entities?
“…the theory of collective action is the central subject of political science.”
collective action is the “core justification for the state”
Elinor Ostrom
- Nobel Prize in Economics, 2009 for her work on economic governance of the commons
- President, American Political Science Association, 1996- 1997John Stuart Mill (1806-1873): Method of Difference and Method of Similarity (First step)
Size of study
- Case study (few cases, small-n) (Method of Difference and Method of Similarity)
- Quantitative (many cases, large-n), variation is importantType of study
- Examine variables that are similar or different to one another
- Examine variables across time or geographic differences
- Compare different states, regions, etc.
- Compare the same state, etc. at different timesMethod of Difference
- Starts with states that differ in the dependent variable result (the outcome)
- They should be as similar in everything else as possible
- Find the one other thing that is different
- That is the cause
Method of Similarity
- Starts with states with the same dependent variable result (outcome)
- They should be as different in everything else as possible
- Find the one other thing that is the same
- That is the cause
Author: Tom Hanna
Website: tomhanna.me
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.</>
POLS3311, Spring 2024, Instructor: Tom Hanna